Republican hopefuls already lining up

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie is one of the early fancies in the race for the Republican nomination for the 2016 presidential campaign.
Photo: Reuters

by
Mark Hughes

A young Floridian of Cuban heritage, Marco Rubio, and a former state governor, Jeb Bush, have emerged as early front-runners to become the Republican candidate in the 2016 presidential election.

Mitt Romney
’s vice-presidential candidate, Paul Ryan, is also a chance, although long-time favourite New Jersey Governor Chris Christie may have lost ground by embracing President
Barack Obama
and seemingly shunning Romney after super-storm Sandy.

As the son of Cuban immigrants, the 41-year-old Rubio ticks many boxes, with the Republicans seeking a way to reconnect with the growing US Hispanic community.

He is one of the most prominent Hispanic Republicans and his name was mentioned as a possible running mate this time around.

“If there’s a winner tonight, it’s the senator from Florida, Marco Rubio," US political pundit George Will said.

“All eyes are now going to be turned to him as a man who might have a way to broaden the demographic appeal of this party."

While some Republicans want a new face representing the future, others might prefer a familiar name on the ticket.

Jeb Bush
, brother of the last Republican president George W. and son of president George H. W. Bush, has long been a favourite of the Republican base.

Related Quotes

Company Profile

He served as governor of Florida for eight years until 2007. During his time he proved popular among Cubans and non-Cuban Hispanics – demographics Republicans need to begin to appeal to. Bush also has a Mexican wife and speaks Spanish. Like Rubio, he might also offer Republicans a strong chance of winning Florida.

Christie is a possible candidate. His strong leadership in the wake of hurricane Sandy has won plaudits.

But he may have damaged chances of support from within his own party after he publicly applauded Obama’s leadership following the storm, with less than a week to go before the election.

It was later reported that Christie refused to appear alongside Romney at a Pennsylvania rally two days before the election.

Responding to the reports, Christie said: “I want to get through this storm [Sandy] today, OK?"

He added: “With the stuff I’ve been dealing with over the past eight or nine days . . . politics becomes much smaller when you’re dealing with life and death issues."

Despite being on this year’s losing ticket, Ryan has also been mentioned for 2016. He is only 42 and is popular with young Republicans.

He also easily won his Congressional seat, despite campaigning with Romney, giving him a platform for a bid.

He is more conservative on social issues than Romney, which will appeal to the party traditionalists.

Ryan acquitted himself well in his brief time on the national ticket and in so doing raised his profile with donors and activists within the GOP.

His announcement that he would return to the House in 2013 to chair the budget committee suggests that Ryan will spend the next two years or so burnishing his reputation as the “ideas guy" within the GOP and, perhaps, as the most high-profile foil to Obama and his policies.

But Ryan’s conservatism might be seen as a bad thing, with the Republicans trying to broaden their appeal.

He may also have been hurt by being on the first ticket in 40 years in which both candidates lost their home states. The Democrats took Ryan’s home state of Wisconsin, as well as Romney’s current home, Massachusetts, and his birthplace of Michigan.

The last time both running mates lost in their home states was in 1972 when Democrats George McGovern and Sargent Shriver lost to Richard Nixon. History, too, is against Ryan. Only one losing vice-presidential candidate, Franklin D. Roosevelt, has ever gone on to become president.

Another contender is Bobby Jindal, the Louisiana Governor who seems all but certain to make a bid for the presidency in 2016.

He has in his favour the fact he is Indian-American (Republicans badly need non-white faces in top positions) and he has compiled a decidedly conservative record as governor of the Bayou state.

If the party heads towards the right, then Kentucky senator Rand Paul will pick up the standard laid down by his father and, in so doing, ensure himself at least 10 to 15 per cent of the vote in every early-voting state in 2016.

Those close to Paul’s political world cast Rand as Ron Paul 2.0 – the son has all the core beliefs of the father but with a much healthier dose of charisma and a willingness to occasionally couch his views in order to court sceptical voters.